In the New York Times today, Jim Fallows complains that "even the best search engines are surprisingly ineffective" for "anything but simple keyword queries." He gives as an example his quest for information on educational spending in California vs. that of Connecticut and Mississippi.
Well, Jim has a point–but I think he’s downplaying something else. The information you need may be either offline or tucked away in proprietary databases or in other places outside the range of the usual search engines. It was true in the past when a number of librarians and search engine junkies started writing on the issue, and, despite innovations like Google Print, it is still true today. If nothing else, book indexes should go online online as part of the transition toward truly full search.
Needlessly to say, a coherently organized national digital library system in the TeleRead vein could be useful by addressing the above issues both technically and in business terms. Also needed is integration with local schools and libraries–including preparation of teachers and librarians. That’s a major difference between TeleRead and the usual talk of digital libraries. We need a comprehensive approach.
Some progress is already happening via the usual efforts on technical standards; but the grand vision still isn’t there among policymakers of either major party. Even library consortia aren’t the answer, not when K-12 so often gets left behind in terms of access to content and other resources.
